On a High Note
by AZ1087653
Summary: The Tramp finds himself on the receiving end of a child's admiration. This is something he doesn't really want. Who is she and why is she following him? It's not easy to write slapstick, but I have tried. Uses Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character.


I am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character and unfortunately there is no specific section for him on this site. I could probably e-mail someone and it would be made, but I don't think there are enough stories yet.

This story doesn't really coincide with one of the movies Chaplin made, but does use his character 'The Tramp'. I don't own this character; I'm just borrowing him for fun.

I have written this like you would watch a silent film, there is only one actual spoken line since it didn't seem it could be helped. There is a lot of thought though.

/GG/

On a High Note

Principle Characters –

A Waif

A Man and a Woman

A Kind Man

A Man in Good Clothing

A Young Lady

And of course

A Tramp

It was an absolutely perfect day by any standards. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Great cumulus clouds were scattered throughout the sky and keeping the ground in partial shade. The breeze was just enough to make the leaves rustle and the flowers dance in the gardens of the park.

A lone figure was coming down the sidewalk, outlined by the suns' rays. He had a rather peculiar gait because his feet were spread out at an almost 180 degree angle and his shoes were too big for his smallish feet. He carried a cane in his hand, not for actual use, more as an accessory.

His eyes darted back and forth, taking in the scenery; every sound, every scent. The Tramp loved the outdoors. That was a good thing, since he tended to live outside; even in the most extreme of weather.

The Tramp smiled at the birds in the trees; whistling their courtship songs to one another. It was spring and love was in the air. Not for the Tramp though, he thought sadly. I'm not in love, which is probably a good thing as I have no money to court her with anyway.

Not wanting his loneliness to spoil the day, he put the thought out of his head and continued on walking. He saw a girl sitting on a park bench. A very pretty girl, wearing a blue dress and a matching hat with pink flowers.

Being the Tramp, he was unable to resist such a temptation. He hobbled over to the bench and sat down. Then he waited patiently for a few seconds for the lady to acknowledge him. When she did, he flashed her his charming smile and tilted his hat in friendly gesture.

The lady smiled back, then picked up a book to flash the expensive engagement ring she wore on her finger. The Tramp was almost blinded by the glare from the sun. He took a deep breath and put his arm on his leg, a small frown on his face.

Obviously that wasn't going to work. He was just about to get up and leave when a tall man in an expensive suit came over to the bench.

The man pointed at the Tramp and looked at the lady. She shook her head, indicating the Tramp wasn't bothering her, he just sat down. That didn't stop the man from picking the Tramp up by the collar of his shirt and tossing him aside.

Our poor Tramp fell backwards and landed on his rump. He shook his head and stood back up, ready to defend himself, but he didn't get the chance. His hat, which was sitting precariously on his head after his fall, was picked up by a sudden gust and flew off his head, landing in the flower garden.

That was his favorite hat! He needed to get it back.

After dusting himself off, he walked over to the garden. It was so pretty with all those pink, yellow, blue and purple flowers. He didn't want to step on them, since his hat was out of his reach. He thought for a moment and then reached out his cane. Maybe that would reach his hat.

Unfortunately for the poor Tramp, as per usual, that didn't work out so well either. He was still a foot away from being able to reach his hat. Using his left leg for balance, he tried standing on his right leg and leaning in and he was just a few inches away, if only he could reach a little further.

The Tramp felt himself falling forward and swung his left leg forward to keep from crashing into the flower bed. He had used a little too much force and landed on his backside, spread eagle, in front of the little garden. He could hear the man and the lady from the bench laughing at him.

Why not help me, he thought. Instead of laughing at my misfortune.

Lucky for him, another man came walking by and helped our Tramp to his feet. The Tramp nodded his head in appreciation and pointed to his hat. If the man were to hold his leg, then he could reach the hat and this whole fiasco could be over.

He pointed to his leg and then pointed to the man's hands. The man nodded and the Tramp handed him a leg. He then lowered himself over the flower bed and used his cane to snatch his hat. The cane reached and for a moment he was so excited, he flung his hat behind him, hitting the man in the face. This caused the man to drop hold of his leg and the Tramp to lose his balance.

He did a face plant in the dirt, his one leg still on the sidewalk, the other sticking straight up in the air. What really got to him was the fact that his face had crushed no less then eight of the flowers.

The Tramp lowered his right leg and then used his hands to push himself up. This was also done with too much force and he fell backward into the man's arms, knocking him down in the process. Both ended up in a heap on the sidewalk.

And, of course, the couple on the bench just sat there laughing; neither offering assistance of any kind to the comedic duo.

Our Tramp, his face still covered in dirt, looked sheepishly over at his benefactor. He tried to grin and make the man smile, but that didn't happen. The man stood up, tossed the hat on the ground and stalked off toward the street without so much as a glance back.

Tramp stood up and walked toward the fountain a hundred yards away from the now crushed flower bed. He needed to clean his face off and continue on his way, wherever that may be.

He reached into the water and pulled out a handful. Then he splashed himself in the face a few times to remove the grime. Not having any handkerchiefs on him, he used his shirt sleeve to wipe the water away from his eyes.

In the fountain lay a lone flower, twirling with the force of the water. A flower from the garden. It must have gotten stuck on his face without him realizing it. He reached in and picked it up from its pool and stuck it a button hole on the collar of his jacket. Then he put his hat back on his head and started back down the sidewalk.

The Tramp now had every intention to stay away from pretty girls or men while in the park. Instead he paid attention to the children and the animals. They brought a smile to his face and he couldn't help grinning at their play. At one point he had picked up a ball and threw it back to a group of kids playing baseball in a field. He had a lousy shot though, so the kids still had to fetch it anyway.

All in all it was turning out to be a nice day, even with the little misfortune a while back.

What he didn't need was what he ended up getting though. He had just rounded a corner and started in another direction when he ran into a Waif with a kite. Or at least the kite strings. The little girl was crying up at a tree; her kite caught in the branches.

The Tramp noticed she didn't have any shoes on and her face was covered in grime. She was wearing a burlap sack as a dress. Great! He couldn't just leave her there like that. His heart melted at the site of the tear streaked face, crying for the red kite in the tree.

He decided to help. So he put his coat, hat and cane on a bench and started to climb. When he got about four feet up, he slipped back down and landed on his bottom. So he tried again and the same thing happened.

The Waif wasn't laughing at his falling, but she wasn't crying anymore. She was just looking on curiously as our hero tried to scale the tree and not fall onto his rump.

Standing up, he did a turn about the tree to see if there was a place to get some better footing. The bark wasn't particularly smooth, but for some reason his feet kept slipping. He decided to remove his shoes and try it barefoot.

He walked over to the bench and took off his shoes, then tried climbing the tree. This time when he reached the four foot mark, he continued on. A smile snaked its way across his face as he shimmied up the tree and found the first branch, about twelve feet off the ground.

Now that he had some leverage, he was able to swing himself over to the branch where the kite had decided to make its home. He, carefully, unhooked the kite and its strings from the branches and dropped it back down to the happily waiting arms of the Waif.

She smiled up at him and he nodded as he started back down. A good deed was always rewarding and that smile was reward enough.

The Tramp managed to make it back to solid ground without hurting himself. He walked over toward the bench and put his shoes, jacket and hat back on. The Waif child was staring at him with a look of pure admiration.

Too bad she's not ten years older, he thought. He tipped his hat to her and started off on his way again.

It wasn't ten minutes later though that our Tramp noticed he was being followed. He caught the glimpse just out of the corner of his eye. The Waif was following him! He thought for a moment and decided it must have been some sort of hero worship. When he had rescued her kite, she had thought of him as a hero.

This wasn't going to do and it needed to stop instantly.

The Tramp stopped walking and turned; pretending to admire a tree. The Waif had stopped and hid behind a bush a few yards away.

Our hero turned toward the bush and beckoned for the girl to come over to him. She stepped out of her hiding place and walked forward slowly. When she reached the Tramp she stopped, looked up and smiled adoringly at him.

The smile made the Tramp uncomfortable and he had no issues with showing it to everyone in the vicinity as he cleared his throat.

He couldn't speak though since he found it rather flattering. So he pointed to the girl and then pointed her in the direction he had just come, indicating she needed to go back or go home or just go away. It wasn't proper for a girl her age to be cavorting with a man his age.

This caused her to giggle as she put her hand to her mouth.

The Tramp was now rather confused and started to walk off again, but not before tipping his hat like a gentleman.

The Waif started in behind him again, this time at a longer distance. He could just make her wispy figure a number of yards back, jumping from hiding place to hiding place. Occasionally behind a tree, a bench or a rubbish bin.

He didn't know what to do! This was a completely unexpected development, and one in which he didn't know how to correct. Of course he had to help her get the kite. He couldn't go back on that and he always had to show his gentlemanly side. But there were some limits. There was no need for the girl to be following him as he strolled through the park.

Who were her parents? Where did she come from? These were all questions that ran through is mind as he continued on, at a slightly faster pace. Maybe he could lose her if he made a beeline for the trees?

If she continued following him, there was no telling the amount of trouble he could get into-from the law or anywhere else. If someone was looking for her, they mightn't be too happy; him leading her in his direction rather than she going home where she belonged.

So engrossed with his own thoughts, our hero missed seeing an open man hole and fell into the hole in the splits position. He managed to keep himself from falling down into the murky waters below, but wow did that hurt.

Eyes closed at the strain, he pushed himself up and sat down, hard, on the walkway next to the hole. There was a sign a few feet back that he had completely missed, leading him to this embarrassing and painful position.

There were passersby laughing at his unfortunate misfortune and none of them were nice enough to stop by and help him to his feet. He shook his cane at the people, which only caused them to laugh harder.

Then he felt a tentative hand on his shoulder.

He looked behind and saw the girl standing with her other hand stretched out in gesture. She wanted to help him to his feet. The Tramp smiled and took her hand, then got to his knees and stood up, rubbing his hind end in a grimace.

She reached out to pat him but he stopped her short. There was no need for her to be of any further assistance. In fact she needn't really have helped at all. He could have stood up on his own.

Again, he tipped his hat; then pointed the way the two had come. He was appreciative of her help, but enough was enough. She needed to go home. This time she made to walk away, so our hero was sure she would go home. He started on his way and glanced back in time to see her start in his direction.

Here we go again, he thought.

This time though, he was glad she had started to follow him. A man in good clothing came up behind her and grabbed her arm. The Tramp watched as she turned around fast and started to pull herself away from this man. The Tramp saw a look of horror in her eyes and he knew he couldn't let her be taken off.

There was a possibility this man in good clothing would try to sell her to a work house or something and that wasn't going to be tolerated.

Our hero stalked over toward the girl and the man and put his hand up. This caused the man pause and the girl was able to wrench herself free and run behind the Tramp's legs.

The man pointed at the girl and made to grab for her, but the Tramp stopped him and put his foot down. This caused the man to push our hero, who fell onto his posterior again. He could see spectators watching from the sidelines as the man went after the girl a second time.

The Tramp jumped up and kicked the man up his backside, sending him sprawling onto the ground. He then reached for the girl's hand, which she took, and the two ran off down the sidewalk and away from danger.

After running for a few minutes, the Tramp and the girl stopped to catch their breath. The Tramp sat down on a bench and took his hat off; wiping his forehead with his jacket sleeve. The girl sat next to him.

On the one hand, he had saved her life. On the other, she might have been perfectly safe if she had listened to him when he told her to leave. His luck was such that he tended to have a lot of bad karma following him around.

A few minutes later he stood up. She followed suit, but he put his hand on her shoulder and pointed her out of the park. The Waif needed to go home.

She shook her head and pulled on his arm. She still wanted to leave the park, but apparently wanted him to follow.

The Tramp wasn't sure that was such a good idea, but followed her anyway. If he could get her to where she was going, then maybe she wouldn't get into anymore trouble. This way he would know she was safe.

She started walking faster and pulled him through the crowds on the sidewalks. At one point he had lost track of where they were going. He ended up hitting a street lamp twice, causing both of them to crash to the ground once and lost his shoe in a grate. They had to backtrack and find it; he only had one pair!

That being done, they arrived at a swank estate behind a high metal fence.

The Tramp looked at the home and shook his head. What were they doing there? He looked at the girl, who was trying to pull him to the gate. He didn't like that idea. What neither needed was to get caught breaking and entering. He didn't want to go to jail and she would be sent to the work house for sure.

She was insistent though and he ended up going with her. He would rather take the blame then have little Waif receive any of the punishment anyway. She couldn't have been more then seven years old.

What was surprising though was the ease at which she entered the property. No one seemed to take notice of the Waif and the Tramp walking through the property and up to the house.

The girl didn't take him to the front door though. She took him around the house and out to the back. There was a horse stable to the side, where two young men were riding and jumping over obstacles. There was a woman and a very young girl swimming in the pool and a man reading the news from the back door.

Generally interested in the surroundings, the Tramp wasn't aware of where he was being taken. When the Waif stopped he looked where he was and his eyes got wide. There was a young lady sitting under a tree, with a cat on her lap, reading a book.

She looked exactly like the Waif would probably look when she was that age. The little girl ran over and wrapped her arms around the young lady and planted a kiss on her cheek.

Playfully, the young lady pushed the girl away; then eyed her clothes. She pointed to the burlap sack the girl was wearing and shook her head. Her eyes got wide when she saw the Tramp standing off toward the side.

The young lady pointed to the Tramp and looked at the girl.

"He saved my kite." The girl said. "Come meet my sister."

Of course, that young lady was her sister. That meant this Waif wasn't a Waif at all, but a young lady of good fortune.

Shyly the Tramp walked forward and removed his hat. He kept his eyes to the ground though. He didn't want to startle the young lady.

The young lady wasn't as shy though and stood up; taking the Tramp's hand in hers. He looked up at her with his big blue eyes and flashed her his charming smile, which she returned in full force.

The Tramp plucked the flower from his button hole and handed it to the young lady, who put it into her hair, smiling.

The day might have started out raw, but it was going to end on a high note. The Tramp knew it.


End file.
